What is it about?
An interview with American short story writer Carmen Maria Machado – looking at why she was drawn to the short story, her challenges and inspirations, as well as her interest in writing about sex and sexuality, and inability to write during the pandemic.
Featured Image
Photo by Sinitta Leunen on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Machado is a critically acclaimed short story writer, who is helping to invigorate the short story through her interest in sex, sexuality and the fantastical - and also by being playful with form (using list structures or writing a story as a series of capsule episodes, for example). This interview sees her discuss her thoughts about the potential of the form, as well as her growth and development as a practitioner. She also makes reference to her forthcoming collection A Brief and Fearful Star.
Perspectives
It was a pleasure to speak to Carmen about her work, and to get more of an insight into her writing and inspirations. As I have an interest in astronomy myself, I was particularly delighted to hear that her forthcoming collection is inspired by comets and features these in different ways in each piece.
Dr Andrea Ashworth
Edge Hill University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ‘Mainlining Ray Bradbury’: An interview with Carmen Maria Machado, Short Fiction in Theory and Practice, March 2023, Intellect,
DOI: 10.1386/fict_00079_7.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
